This is Halloween
by TwilightSickness
Summary: Strangers in the Night Contest Entry by AnastasiaCullen88 Movie Title: The Shining


Strangers in the Night Writing contest hosted by

**Movie title:** The Shining

**Story title:** This is Halloween

**Disclaimer:** Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all it's characters.

**Summary: **Edward and Bella are total opposites. Can a week of detention and a 'haunted hayride' change the way they look at each other? Will they get the fright of their lives? After all this is Halloween.

**EPOV**

What am I doing here? How did they manage to talk me into this? This night is going to suck. End of discussion. I hate Halloween; besides girls dressing up in tiny little fancy dress outfits I saw no point in the holiday.

My sister Alice, her boyfriend and my best friend Jasper and our cousin Emmett and his girlfriend Rose have managed to drag me along to the 'Forks Haunted Hayride'. Let's just forget for a second that we're in Forks, the idea of going on a haunted hayride at the age of 17 seems a little odd anyway, but the fact it is happening in the dullest town God ever created makes it even more ridiculous. My date Tanya seems excited, I couldn't care less as long as I got a little action tonight. She is annoying me with all her jumping up and down and constant questions which seem to revolve around whether I will protect her if any bad things come to get her.

No bitch you will be the first to go.

I only invited her because I get tired of being the fifth wheel with my friends, and at least this way I could have a little fun at the end of the night. Tanya is hot and I need to take my mind off a certain someone who, much to my annoyance seems to be stuck in my head.

So here I am queuing with the gang and Tanya about to get into the back of a cart being pulled along by a horse which will take us to the woods and is controlled by a man dressed as what looked like a really shabby butler. Tanya's nails are digging into my arm in fear and I'm starting to think no amount of fooling around is worth this much hassle beforehand. I thought having her cling on to me when she was scared would be a plus. I was wrong.

Tanya starts to make little squealing noises and buries her head in my chest as the group before us is carted away, I'm sure this little scared girl act is meant to be attractive to me but it just makes me want to give her a good shake and tell her to get a grip. There is nothing to be scared of. It is all fake and stupid. A bit like Tanya. She lets out a high pitched squeal and clings to my arm when one the staff dressed in a Halloween costume comes running by to scare those in the line. Christ why did I invite her again? I'm starting to think maybe I should ditch her with the guys and just go have fun with someone else. My thoughts instantly turn to one person. The one person I really don't want to be thinking about. _Damn her. _

It began last week. I had detention because I had the misfortune of being caught during my lunch period in the back seat of my car with Lauren just as things were starting to get hot and heavy.

I shared that detention with Bella Swan.

**Earlier in the week**

_I handed my slip to the teacher sitting at the front before making my way down to a seat at the back corner of the classroom. I pulled my hood up to hide my earphones and sank further down in my seat. I could have done some writing in my journal but I didn't want any of the losers who would be joining me in detention to spread that around the school. I had an image to uphold, and though I may loathe it I had to admit it did make life easier. _

_Lauren would not be sharing detention with me because her daddy shipped her off to an all girls boarding school in Switzerland. One less headache for me._

_A few of the guys who regularly got high around the back of the science lab come in handing their slips in at the front. They settle themselves on the opposite side of the room and bring their desks closer together. Mr Preston didn't say anything, confirming my suspicions that he didn't give a damn what we did as long as we didn't disturb him. _

_Just as I was about to turn the music up on my i-pod I heard a lovely smooth voice at the front of the class._

_"Hey Mr P how's it hanging?" I looked up to see Bella Swan dropher slip onto the desk._

_"Miss Swan," Mr Preston actually looked a little amused to find her here, "What was it this time?"_

_"Nothing much just putting a Jock in his place, the usual really, but then his little girlfriend swears I shouted a 'witch curse' at him," She used her hands to make air quotes when saying this letting out a small laugh as she did, "Apparently that is threatening behaviour and we have a zero tolerance for that at Forks High don't you know?"_

_"Put him in his place?" Mr Preston asked raising an eyebrow._

_"I kicked him in the balls and said I hope they turn black and fall off, not a witch curse as she so nicely put it. No-one cared the creep grabbed my ass beforehand because we of course can't put our star basketball player in detention before the big game." She smirked at Mr Prescott before making her way down the middle of the room and taking a place two seats to my right._

I heard about what she did to Mike, I wasn't on the basketball team but I was on the baseball team so we hung with the same sort of people. I hate Mike; he is a complete douche so while I would never say anything aloud I thought it was fantastic what she did putting that creep in his place.

_I noticed how the stoners all perked up with her arrival and their eyes followed her movement. I couldn't judge I was doing the same, because that was the other thing about Bella, weirdo she may be but ugly she aint. She was one of the hottest girls in school. I think that's why she got a harder time because people felt she should be with the 'beautiful people'._

Even the way she dressed could not take away from how smoking she was. She was wearing some insanely tight black jeans and black combat boots as well as a loose black top that showed off her stomach and fell off one shoulder to reveal a purple bra strap. She was petite with curves in all the right places. Her lips were just begging to be kissed especially with her red lipstick, her eyes were big and brown and surrounded by thick eyelashes. The dark eye makeup she wore seemed only to accentuate her light green eyes. She had a small stud in her nose which again drew attention to the fact it was a lovely small button nose and all natural unlike some of the plastic faces walking around the school. Her hair was a deep chocolate brown it had random braids in it as well as a few rainbow coloured extensions. The only jewellery she wore besides the nose stud was a silver charm bracelet and a weird necklace that looked like a mini pocket watch. On anyone else it the whole outfit would look ridiculous but on her it looked sexy.

_I did not understand the girl, with her looks and no-bullshit attitude she could rule this school instead she chose to bury her nose in books, hang out with the freaks and mock those considered to be part of the 'in-crowd'. She and I have had a rivalry for years now. Nothing too sinister, I just liked to wind her up during any of the classes we had together. If she said black I said white, that kind of thing but it never extended outside of the classroom. It's like we had an unspoken respect for one another, we didn't bother each other even if we thought the people the other hung around with left a lot to be desired. My sister Alice also had art with her and loved her so it would be too much grief to push it any further._

_Bella rustled around in her bag before pulling a book out. I smirked when I saw it was The Shining by Stephen King. Reading a horror in the build up to Halloween, typical Swan. Mr Preston stood up and made his way to the door._

_"Miss Swan I need to run an errand, try keep everyone in order please." He said. Bella looked up from her book to give a mock salute which caused him to shake his head and laugh as he made his way out of the room._

Just as she starts to read her book again one of the stoners makes his way over to her and sits in chair next to her.

_"Soooo...You into your bad boys then?" He pointed to the book. Now this I gotta hear I paused my music but kept my earphones in so it didn't look obvious._

_"Oh yeah an alcoholic who goes crazy, beats his partner and then tries to murder his own son what's not to love?" I smirked at her snarky response._

_The idiot laughed it was easy to tell he was not picking up on her tone. What a dick. _

_"Yeah Jack Nicholson is a total legend man!" He grinned at her. Did he just seriously say what I think he did? I rolled my eyes and was tempted to smack him down there and then, don't get me wrong Jack is a legend but he isn't in the book, he's in the film, different things altogether. _

_Bella closed her book with a slap and turned to the stoner, _

_"Listen, Garrett is it?" His eyes widened with shock at his name and he nodded enthusiastically, "Could you please remove yourself from my presence and only return when you have educated yourself on the difference between films and novels, maybe not even then. Thank you." With that she opened her book effectively stopping any further conversation._

_Garrett dragged himself back to his side of the room where his friends were trying to hide their amusement. As soon as he sat down they pushed him around a little bit causing him to grab one of them in a headlock._

_"Whatever at least I had the balls to actually go over there, you guys are wimps" he said._

_"Idiots" Bella muttered under her breath._

_"I concur" I went to play my music when Bella turned to me._

_"So Cullen, how do you feel about books that are made into films?"_

_"I think they can be fantastic, The Shining is actually a good example because Jack is a total legend," I said grinning at her, she just rolled her eyes at me and was about to turn back to her book when I carried on talking "But people tend to forget to treat them as two separate things, it would be impossible to make a book how everyone envisioned it and technically impossible to have every single sentence transferred to the big screen and let's not forget social taboos can affect how a film is made. I just enjoy seeing someone else's vision of the book, sometimes I agree with it completely other times I just want to kill the filmmakers for destroying a good story."_

_Bella stared at me with her mouth hanging slightly open. She shook her head before she leaned back in her seat._

_"Well, well, well who'd have thought there would actually be brain cells in there," She pointed to my head, "And here I thought you only spoke when the sole purpose was to piss me off."_

_I gave her a lopsided smile before I moved to the seat next to her and grabbed her book off the desk. _

_"Not sure I would want to read this just before Halloween though."_

_"Well some of us don't scare so easily, besides you just got to remember its all fake." She snatched her book back. She gave me a little wink and I couldn't help but laugh at her playful attitude._

**Present time**

We spent the rest of that detention talking about our favourite book to film adaptations and our interaction throughout the week of detention followed in the same vein; I found it thrilling to be able to talk to her without a teacher interrupting us or changing the topic and without me pissing her off for a change.

I have never interacted with her outside the classroom and it was nice to know just how intelligent she was, and I think she was actually impressed with me as well; usually I just wound her up in class I didn't really _talk_ to her. I found myself enjoying being in her company. I never had that with any other girl, usually I felt they were only good for one thing and sometimes that left a lot to be desired. Except for my female family members or the girlfriends of family members I found I had little patience for most girls. Bella was different and I felt like we had the beginning of a good friendship building. Which made me feel like a pansy but I didn't care, I wanted to hang around her. That was until this afternoon. I was still mad about how our last conversation went. We had done our hour in detention and were in the car park when I made the mistake of trying to makes plans to interact with her outside of detention time.

**Earlier in the day**

_"So Swan you got any plans for tonight?" We had parked our cars near to each other so we made our way towards them together. _

_"Yeah I'm going to that Haunted Hayride the town council has organised. They have 3 types for it apparently, fun, fright and fear so me and some of my friends are going during the fear time slot," She shrugged, "Not actually sure how scary it will be, I've been told by a friend who is acting as one of the zombies exactly what has been planned. What about you?" She looked over to me._

_"I'm actually going to that too, my family is dragging me along," I grimaced causing her to laugh "What? I think it's pointless and aren't we a little old to be involved with Halloween?" _

_"Halloween is for all ages Cullen. Are you sure you're not just scared?" We had reached our cars._

_"Scared? C'mon Swan remember what we talked about, nothing to be scared of when it's all fake," I huffed out a little laugh, "But just be on the safe side how about we go as a big group and you can keep me safe." As soon as the words came out of my mouth I realised it was the wrong thing to say something flickered in her eyes and it looked like some the life went out of them._

_"Don't be stupid Cullen." She made to open her car door but I leaned my weight on it to prevent her being able to do so._

_"Stupid? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I was more than a little bit pissed. Who the hell did she think was?_

_"Don't raise your voice to me and stop being so dense," She shoved into me effectively moving me off her car door, "You know as well as me that we don't mix outside of school, we don't mix outside of class, hell we don't even mix in class." _

_"Well what if I want that to change?" She just scoffed at me and sat in her car but before she could close the door I put my hand out to stop her, "I'm serious why can't we see each other outside of school?"_

_She didn't give me any reply and kept her gaze straight ahead. Then it all clicked._

_"Oh I get it, little miss rebellion is scared what it would do to her rep to be seen with someone like me. Well fuck you Swan. Fuck. You." I slammed her door causing her to jump a little before I got in my own car and sped out of there._

**Present time**

Bitch. I blame her for me bringing Tanya along for the ride. I just wish I could tape her mouth shut. She was still squealing in my ear and I was ready to leave.

"Ed you ready man?" Jasper nudges me on the side which is not occupied by Tanya's body.

"What is there to get ready for? We know it is fake and we know they can't actually do anything to us, this is ridiculous I'm ready to just bail on you losers." Tanya's face fell at my comment but I couldn't give a shit. I was ready to go.

"Wow Cullen, I never knew you were such a chicken," Swan's voice came from behind me. I turned round to find her standing there with her arms folded which just drew attention to her chest; she was wearing a dark green jumper so her tits were not on show but damn the girl still had a nice rack. I put my focus up to her face but from the little smirk she was giving me I know she caught me looking.

"Hey Bella" Alice smiled over at her.

"Hey Al, ready to run around the woods screaming like a little girl or will it just be your men folk doing the screaming?" She grinned over at Alice but gave me a pointed look. Why was she giving me attitude, I was who was supposed to be angry, and I was.

"Urgh witch don't you know the freaks are the ones that are supposed to be in the woods doing the scaring not joining in with the normal people." Tanya snapped at Bella. I realised then she was probably angry that the attention had moved away from her and her stupid antics. I could see Bella clench her jaw but before she could say anything I turned to Tanya.

"Shut it Tanya or fuck off."

Everyone looked a little shocked at my outburst including Bella's friends, Angela and Ben. Tanya was looking at me in disbelief but then she just huffed 'jerk' before walking towards another group of friends. The slight awkwardness of the situation was dispelled when Emmett let out an almighty chuckle while slapping me on the back.

"Thank God for that if I had to hear her squeal one more time I swear I was going to kill her and pretend she was part of the Halloween decoration."

The rest of the group including Bella's friends laughed and began talking between themselves. I glanced over at Bella and she gave me a small smile before mouthing 'thank you' I returned her smile and gave her a little nod. I felt a lot better than I did just moments ago. Alice decided the two groups should merge to go into the woods.

"Sounds good to me, safety in numbers right?" Angela giggled.

Unfortunately for me and Bella it just brought back the argument from earlier and I grinded my teeth while turning away from the group catching a slight pained expression on Bella's face as I did so. The horse and cart pulled up letting the people off who had gone before us. Most of them were laughing and talking about what parts they found really scary while others were pretending to have not been scared but their eyes said something else which made me want to laugh if I wasn't starting to feel the nerves myself.

I climbed up on to the cart and waited for the others to climb up as well. A few random people joined us because there was enough room. Safety in fucking numbers.

Everyone chatted on the ride towards the wooded area. The only voice I couldn't hear in the babble was Bella's. I looked over to where she was sitting and was met with her looking back at me I gave her a small smile which she returned with a beautiful one of her own. I quickly looked away when I got a strange tingle in my stomach at her smile and saw that we were right at the edge of the woods; it was slightly lit around where some people were standing. The horse man turned around,

"Last stop." Some nervous laughter went around the cart before people started climbing down. The people were 'tour guides' who stood at the edge of the wood, illuminated by the little light there was, they were covered in blood and dirt, they handed some maps out to everyone gathered. One of them, a girl, began to speak.

"A deadly virus has broken out, those who are infected become rabid and attack all within their sight so we need to make our way to the safe zone as quickly as possible, but before we can get there we need to make our way through a wooded area containing some of the infected, we also need to collect some supplies from several of the huts spread throughout the woods on the way," She paused looking around for effect, "Now some rules, firstly please refrain from using physical violence against anything you come across in the woods you have chosen the Fear time to come so this will be scary but remember this is just pretend so nothing can actually harm you and our staff will not tolerate being assaulted. Secondly we ask that you pair up to stop mass panic that comes from everyone separating and going off on their own. There will be stewards dotted around the woods who can point you in the right direction if there is a need for it. There may be strobe lightening in some of the huts and you may see random flashes may go off around the woods, these are just the cameras and you can see any pictures taken at the end. Are there any questions?"

A few of the people not in our newly joined group asked a few questions but I tuned out as I focused on what we were about to do. To be honest this actually didn't sound too bad.

I felt someone bump me and looked down to see Bella grinning up at me.

"Wanna pair up?"

"You sure you'll be able to keep up with me Swan? If the infected get a hold of you I'm leaving you behind without a backwards glance."

"And they say chivalry is dead. Don't worry Cullen I have insider knowledge," She said as she tapped her nose, "It's just a question of whether you can keep up with me." I laughed at her little dig.

"Sure you don't mind being seen with me, don't wanna ruin you rep now do we?" As soon as the words came out my mouth I wanted to slap myself, I can never keep my emotions in check around her. Instead of storming off or telling me to go fuck myself she just gave me a little smile.

"I'm sorry about today"

"No I'm sorry that was a dickish thing for me to say, I understand. Highschool is a stupid hierarchy, the sooner it's over the better"

"Amen to that," She put her fist out to me "Truce?" I laughed before bumping my fist with hers.

"Truce."

I look around and can see that there are about 12 people in total so everyone is in a pair. I notice Alice looking over at me and Bella with a little smirk on her face but I just ignore her before turning my attention back to the gruesome tour guides.

"Okay guys take a second to look at your maps and then..." Before she can finish a loud bang sounded and the lights went out causing everyone to scream, I grabbed hold of Bella's wrist which cause her to giggle, the lights came on but were red and some scary Zombie looking dudes were standing right next to us. I bolted dragging Bella with me. I looked around and saw everyone was running and not all in the same direction.

I heard Emmett shout for us to follow him but I could make out a little shape in the woods which looked like one of the huts, I pulled Bella in that direction.

"Fuck you guys we have insider knowledge!" I screamed running in the opposite direction to Emmett, still holding Bella by her wrist. I could hear Bella laughing which in turn made me laugh; this was just fun, not too scary so far.

When we reached the hut it was a lot bigger than I originally thought. I let go of Bella for a moment to catch my breath.

"So you gave away our secrets to the enemy, having a blonde moment Cullen?" Bella leaned on a nearby tree.

"Shut up Swan and start getting supplies." I pulled her away from the tree and pushed her towards the hut which looked like it was just constructed from timber, there was a green glow coming from under the door.

"Bossy and you put the woman in danger first. What. A. Man." She said. I growled and placed her so she was standing behind me. I pushed on the front door. It opened easily and we made our way further in, Bella clung to the back of my top. I tapped her hand.

"What's this Swan? I thought you knew what was coming and what happened to you don't scare easy when you know its fake?"

"Shut up idiot and a start looking for what we need." She glanced at the map in my hands and started to look around. I chuckled before joining her in the search. It was just basic objects we were searching for, a torch, masks and other 'survival' items.

I was a little disappointed. Following what had just happened outside I was expecting more than this. Looking around the hut there was some fake blood splattered in places and some fake virus posters up on the walls. Some dummies with gas masks on were placed around the hut, with objects surrounding them obviously meaning to look like people who tried and failed to escape the virus.

We found two of the items we needed next to one of the said dummies.

"Well that wasn't too bad." Bella just nodded and headed towards the door, it was as she opened and looked back at me with a little glint in her eye that I knew something was off.

Then I felt it. Heavy breathing right on my neck, a quick glance behind revealed that one of the dummies was actually standing right behind me. All rational thought went out of my mind as I screamed and dragged a laughing Bella with me away from the hut.

"You knew that was going to happen!"

Bella just nodded before speaking "That was the girliest scream I have ever heard come out of anyone." She began laughing louder until the sound of someone running towards us shut her up.

I enjoyed her momentary fright before grabbing hold of her arm and running.

It carried on this way for some time, running in and out of the huts except it seemed to descend further into madness as the night wore on, I was vaguely aware of flashes going off around us and couldn't stop laughing after every scare, I was delirious. Eventually we reached a quieter part of the woods and looking at the map I could tell we were not too far away from the safe zone. I could hear some of the others shouting in the distance so wondered if we were the first to get this close. Just as I was about to pull us in the right direction I felt Bella tug on my hand. I looked at her and saw her pointing to our right.

It was then I saw a girl walking around looking lost. She was crying. On closer inspection I noticed she was one of the 4 who joined us last minute on the cart. She was shouting someone's name. It was Bella who spoke first.

"She was with us in the cart, she's not one of the monster things, I don't think." I nodded and whispered to her.

"I know this is all fake but it must be scary getting lost on your own, I wouldn't like it, call her over and we'll all run to the safe zone"

Bella shouted to get the girls attention, when she saw us genuine relief filled her face and she started to make her way towards us at a slight jog but before she got a chance to reach us a figure dressed in black emerged from behind a tree next to her and picked her up, when the girl began screaming the figure covered her mouth and ran off with her.

What. The. Fuck.

"I thought they weren't allowed to touch us!" I whispered furiously to Bella who had turned pale in fear.

"My friend did not mention anything about this, I swear Edward!" The fact she used my first name alerted me to the fact she was actually terrified now.

We both jumped as we heard a chainsaw starting up behind us. We heard blood curdling screams which were cut off not long after. This just got way too real.

Then I heard the chainsaw noise get closer. I could smell the gasoline from it. This was not right. Bella let out a terrified scream when she looked behind us, it was then I saw the black figure carrying a chainsaw heading towards us. A part of me was still in denial but I felt Bella tug on my hand and heard her screaming for me to run and I did.

I could hear the figure behind us; the noise didn't seem to be getting any further away. I knew where Bella was leading us, I had no idea how a fake safe zone would help when a psychopath was chasing us but I went with it. I didn't have any better ideas. Some metal gates marked the safe zone. They looked flimsy but they would at least slow down the psycho behind us.

As we approached I noticed some of the tour guides who were encouraging us to run. We passed the gates and the people quickly moved to close them. The psychopath still came towards the gates and pressed the chainsaw against the fencing making sparks fly off, Bella screamed and grabbed on to me while I looked on in horror. Then the psycho laughed.

And it was a really bad fake evil laugh.

Bella looked towards the figure in anger, "Seth?" she whispered, "YOU BASTARD" she exploded as the figure ran off laughing and I couldn't help smiling, relieved that we were not in actual danger. I chuckled and turned to Bella who was clutching her chest in relief but was she was still shooting daggers towards where her friend had disappeared. I leaned against the fencing and got her attention.

"So that was our inside man?"

(+)0(+)0(+)0(+)

The rest of the group started to come quite quickly after that, all going through the same motions we did. I noticed that none of the random strangers who got in the cart with us were present. It was then we were told that they were in fact part of the staff. Sneaky. We all discussed the night on the ride back.

I couldn't stop laughing when I learnt how Emmett fell over after getting too cocky and walking backwards, meaning he did not see the tree stump until he was falling over it. He would never live that down.

We made our way back to the main area where there will still other students and families milling about. We found the area where the pictures we being sold and I nearly bought the whole lot. There were so many good ones. My favourite was of me and Bella running hand in hand, we were both laughing and running, the one just before it was a picture of someone jumping out on us, my face a mask of terror. Not my favourite.

We were making our way to where all the cars were parked. I said goodbye to everyone. Bella was about to get in a car with Angela and Ben when I took hold of her hand and asked if she would like a lift. She accepted which gave me a weird bubbling sensation in my stomach, I didn't know what that was but I was too happy to care. And when I looked over at her she seemed to be going through the same thing.

(+)0(+)0(+)0(+)

The journey back to Bella's was filled with silence but it wasn't awkward and when I pulled up outside Bella's house I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye.

"Hey," I grabbed her hand before she could exit the car, "Wanna start anarchy in school tomorrow?"

"I thought you'd never ask." And with that she grabbed my face and pulled me into a kiss. Fuck this was better than anything I had done with any other girl. I could feel this all through my body like an electric current. She tasted fantastic and I wanted nothing more than to throw her into the backseat, but I moved away before I did anything too rash.

When we pulled away we stared at one another for a while before smiling. I tucked some of her hair behind her ear and trailed my hand until it was resting on the side of her neck.

"Can I pick you up and take you to school tomorrow?" I rubbed my thumb on the spot just underneath her ear. She hummed and leaned into my hand before nodding.

"See you tomorrow." I gave her one last kiss before she got out the car. She waved before she went into her house.

My final year of school looked to be a good one and I had Halloween to thank, it was definitely my favourite holiday.


End file.
